The present invention relates to screw clamp type multipolar connectors for use in automobile wiring harness and the like, and more particularly to a screw clamp type connector with a terminal protecting plate which protects connection terminals and is fitted into a connector housing.
As the versatility of electronic equipment increases, the recent trend is for multipolar connectors to be employed very often for wiring harness in the automotive industry and like. For example, there is a known screw clamp type connector having a pair of male and female connector housings into which male and female terminals respectively fit and a simple clamp bolt screwed into one of the connector housings, so that both the connector housings are uniformly mated together by tightening the clamp bolt.
As shown in FIG. 16, a conventional female connector housing 81 is provided with a bolt holder 82 projecting on the terminal insertion hole side and a simple clamp bolt 83 is screwed into the bolt holder 82. A male connector housing 80, on the other hand, is equipped with a nut 80A secured to the central part of the front edge face on its mating side so as to anchor the clamp bolt 83 passed through the female connector housing 81. When the clamp bolt 83 is thus anchored, both the connector housings 80 and 81 are mated together.
However, the bolt holder projected from the rear end side of the female connector housing 81 under the conventional arrangement above may interfere with the work of inserting the male terminals; consequently, it has proved a hindrance to automating the step of fitting connecting terminals into a terminal receiving chamber in such a connector housing.
Moreover, there is a possibility that the leading ends of male terminals to be fitted into the female connector housing may be bent for some reason before being fitted into the female connector or during the time of mating work against the counterpart connector housing.
In a case where the leading end of the male terminal fitted into a female connector housing remains slightly curved, further, the leading end thereof may not fit close to the proper position of a corresponding female terminal in the course of coupling the female connector housing to the opposite connector housing 80. For example, the leading end of such a male terminal that has been bent may be forced in between the female terminal in the opposite connector housing and the wall surface thereof.
As a result, male and female terminals to be coupled together may be collapsed and deformed. If this process of fitting female and male terminals together is continued, there will arise a problem in that connectors may be mated together in such abnormal conditions. Moreover, there still remains a reasonable fear that the abnormal conditions may become difficult to detect during the step of inspection because even though abnormalities such as the deformation and collapse of male and female terminals exist, conductivity is established therebetween temporarily and casually.